A New Toy...

Grandma got Baby D this toy at Christmas, because he couldn't sit on his own we never opened it. Until last night.. He really loved it, and had fun looking at himself in the mirror.

A long weekend..

Baby D's Baptism

Baby D's baptism was on Saturday. Lots of planning of it came together into a really nice day. We had to take a class, along with Chris and Julie to "prepare" but it didn't go over much of what would happen on the actual day. I was a bit nervous about that but all together I think it went well. He is baptized and Chris and Julie are his godparents. I really liked how the father explained what baptism is, and how it is more the introduction of a community and a faith.. and that although Baby D doesn't know he is participating knowingly he does give and take from it. Much how a child gives and takes love without knowing. I am paraphrasing here, but it was nice.

It meant a lot to us to have friends and family there to support Baby D on his special day. Natalie surprised us with a visit from LA, Mike and Liz coming from Tracy, Chris and Julie from Stockton, Gemma from Roseville.. it means a lot. As I was looking back on the day I realized how long I have known these people.. at the least amount 10 years. Most closer to 15-20 range if not my whole life. A relationship of any sort takes time and effort, and I am proud of that these efforts have turned into. It was also neat that Baby D baptism was in the same place I was baptized about 28 years ago..

Okay enough of my thoughts.. I took Friday to prepare..

I ran to the flower shop to get some fresh flowers, My friend brought the cake by, I made the bouquets and we cleaned up (okay okay Keith cleaned up, whatever) . We decided to have food delivered since everyone would be coming back at once and I am really glad we did. I was worried about how Baby D would be since he cut his first tooth on Friday and the second one was on it's way.. but as always he was perfect. We got to the chapel and everything ran smoothly..

My attempt at floral arrangements..

The Cake...

AWWW.. MR. BABY D.. in a little suit..

Father
Blessing of the water..
The baptism..

The Presentation..

Safe back with Auntie Natalie..
Auntie Natalie and Auntie Niki..

One Cool Baby..

Starring "Baby D" as himself.

Seven Months old...

My little baby is getting so big so fast! Friday he cut his first tooth and the second one is not far behind. He is a happy baby, and so freakin cute! I know I am partial, but he is so cute, and I can't believe is all ours! It has been a fun seven months, and he gets better every day!





Some pictures from our seven month photo shoot!

Happy Birthday Ivy!!

(or Iby if you go by the cake)

Ivy turned the big FIVE! We celebrated when we went over the Chris and Julie's for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. It was "good times", filled with a great dinner, a game of spoons for the adults, and cake... Ivy also took some rides on her new cool bike! I think this was D's first birthday party, and he had a great time..

Baby D's Push ups...

The other day when I was taking pictures of D rocking and sitting.. I captured these. His pushups.. He will go from a rocking position to this, then back to his knees. He is strong baby already, I don't think I am ready for him to build more strength :)

Rocking and Rolling...

So D's newest FAVORITE thing to do is rock on all fours... if I put a toy out of reach a little he will rock and then dive forward to get closer to it. It is pretty cute, not sure how close we are to crawling.. but I am hoping not that close.

Sitting up..

It is crazy how quickly Baby D changes. One day he can't grab a ball, the next day not only can he grab it but he can throw it... One day he can't hold his bottle, the next he is holding it on his own.. His world changes so fast, all I can do is slow down and enjoy it.

Here are some pictures of a new trick he has pretty much mastered.. Sitting.

Paying in Forward..

So it has been a while since I talked about Wedding planning. I get asked by friends all the time if I am still doing it, I am just not at the 30 or more per year speed I was for the past 5 years. I would for it to be a little busier than it is now, but don't think with Baby D and work I can handle a full load.

I have worked with many vendors over the years, some I have really become close with. One of them were a few guys who started a videographer company. I am not going to name it just for google reasons :). Over the past 5 year I have done over 40 weddings with them, and I heard in Jan. they were going out of business. I was sad to hear that, dropped an email to the owner saying I was sorry and never heard back. Then I heard some clients were not getting their money back. I thought that was sad that he just vanished, but was happy my clients from last year had all their videos.

Until.... about 3 weeks ago. I got an email from a past Sept. client saying she never got her video, and they stopped emailing her about a month ago. I felt so bad because I recommended these people to them. Also I can not imagine not having the images of the wedding day, I recommend videographers because I think it is important. Even if you have a student do it, there is a lot film can't catch. Also after Donna died in Oct. I was happy that we had our video of her reading at our wedding, and also her dancing with K to an upbeat song for the Mother/Son Dance. I think it really captured "her" and want Darrian to be able to see those things. I also had a couple who got married a few years ago who shortly after went to LA with both sets of parents... a terrible car accident happen and all the parents were killed except for one of their Father's. The video was still being edited, but I remember them contacting me and how important those images were to them. So for so many reason it was important to me. I spent a lot of time researching a way to get in contact with them.

I finally got one of the guys to call me back, he was really nice. However he said the owner had pretty much ran away, and didn't know how to get the videos. He would contact the other guys and see what he can do. AFTER a LONG ordeal... and some fancy mystery work he got the videos. All the videos for 2007 clients, I told him to make right I would help him get them to people who were not even my client. Although they are not the edited DVDs they paid for, the raw images are worth so much.

My client got their video and they were SO thankful. I still feel bad they had to go through all that.. but happy it has a happy ended.. I love happy endings.

Here is the email from the bride...

Hi Michelle,

We finally have it! P met me at my work (he works in the same area, basically down the street) and handed me the tapes this afternoon.On the way home I was almost going to cry at the thought that our wedding day WILL be chronicled in video format after all. Thanks for your help again. We're grateful for your persistence and efforts, we can not explain how much it means to us. You went above and beyond. -C

I hope by helping them that is some good Karma in the world for us.